Turkish living

Family cherry picking trip – Sydney

07/03/2012 Leave a Comment

Dont know how it is with other cultures, but each year Turkish families get together (usually about 3 or 4 groups) and make a 3-5 hour trip to pick their own cherries. Ironically, we saw road side signs with cherries for $2-3 per kilo less than what we paid for plus we had to use our own human resources a.k.a everyone pick your own fruit!

But its all in the name fun , we spend a day with family & friends, the kids enjoy the different outing & roadtrip, mums dont have to prepare any food & we’re showing our kids what our childhood was like.

I was so tempted to pull it out by the roots & plant it in my backyard – but that would be stealing & bad role model ofcourse…..! lol

Unfortunately, its been a wet year so majority of the cherries / leaves were damaged….

We probably ate over a kilo while there…..

Miss. Hip’s favourite – lady beetles

Filed Under: Cherry Picking, Family trips

{Turkish recipe} Feta cheese cake – (peynirli kek)

26/01/2012 Leave a Comment

Cheese is loved by all in Turkey, its one food that doesnt separate the rich & poor, its always found in ever Turkish household & breakfast isnt complete without it.While feta is usually most preferred for its price and versatility, we also have ‘tulum‘, ‘kasar‘ (similar to mozerella), ‘cokelek‘ (parmesan but salty & very hard) & Lor (Haloumi) – but these type of cheese are more expensive and used for breakfast.

Last night we had guests over and among my other bakes/sweets, I made this super quick & easy feta cheese cake. Its not a large cake but very filling, perfect for picnics, snack & best of all my kids just had leftovers for breakfast!

Ingredients

1 cup of yoghurt
1 cup olive or vegetable oil
3 eggs
100grams of feta cheese
1 bunch of parsley (i didnt use parsley)
3 cups of self raising flour
sesame seeds

Instructions

Beat all 3 eggs until its light & frothy
Mix in the remaining ingredients (except the sesame seeds) – mum said it has to be lumpy but I still found it dry so I secretly added 2 tablespoon of yoghurt and it didnt affect my cake at the end.
Pour the mix into a well greased tray- I used my Pyrex glass tray, sprinkle the sesame seeds all over the top
Bake at 175 degrees for 40 minutes -

Note you can add pitted back olives or diced tomatoes for extra taste.

Filed Under: Breakfast, Cakes, Lunch Box Ideas, Turkish living Tagged With: breakfast recipe, easy cake, Turkish recipe

Super quick & easy one pot pasta

17/01/2012 Leave a Comment

Mum is a typical old-school Turkish mum, theres no point looking at non-Turkish recipes because in her mind theres nothing better than a good old hot Turkish meal. I love trying different culture foods and I must say mum loves eating these meals, so long as she doesnt have to attempt making it (yep feeling alittle used & abused here) lol.

As kids our ‘spaghetti bolognese’ didnt include sauce in a jar, or any special ingredients. It was a simple one pot pasta meal that we loved, not only because of the taste but this made us feel like we’re having an Australian meal lol.

In my RARE lazy moods I make mums spaghetti bolognese but my kids dont see it as a ‘special’ meal nor do they believe it is ‘bolognese’ but hey atleast they enjoy it as we did.

Ingredients:

Pasta (I know i said spaghetti, but with small pasta my kids seem to make less mess)
Tomato Paste (I use Turkish tomato paste that mum makes at home or we purchase from the Turkish supermarket – its alot thicker than others)
1 onion, chopped
beef mince (depending on how much pasta your using – just dont add too much as it will overpower the pasta taste)
Yoghurt
garlic, minced

Instructions

This isnt a measure recipe, if its only the kids eating then I use 1/4 of pasta. Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Drain cooked pasta and leave it in the strainer.

Sauté chopped onions & beef mince til cooked. Add 1 – 2 tablespoons of tomato paste, & salt.

Keep the stove on low, add the cooked pasta and mix well with the mince – ensure pasta is covered well.

In a separate bowl mix yoghurt, minced garlic & alittle salt. Serve the pasta in plates with a drizzle of the garlic yoghurt – and ‘afiyet olsun’ (bon appetit).

Filed Under: Dinner, Turkish living

A Muslim Aussie Christmas

05/12/2011 Leave a Comment

Ive always loved walking into shopping centres during Christmas, all the decorations, Christmas tree and colours puts a smile on anyones face.

We never had a Christmas tree growing up, instead my dad use to decorate the large lemon tree we had in the backyard. We use to sing at Candles by Candlelight in our local area, mum had a huge belly and would say “ho ho ho’ in her strong english/turkish accent – which was funnier than dad trying to say “merry Christmas”.

Im born and bred in Australia, I grew up with Christmas apart of my life but my parents immigrated to Australia when they were 35 and had to adapt to their surroundings without the knowledge or the language.

My parents wanted to experience Christmas with us, we’d exchange presents -dad always gave us candy and mum would buy our pack of Christmas cards to give out at school.

In my household things are slightly different – we had a Christmas tree til now but this year im kind of slacking off, we drive through random streets/suburbs admiring Christmas lights, we exchange gifts with neighbours, colleges & my parents (my sisters arent really in the Christmas cheers).

Muslims dont celebrate Christmas, but there are Australian Muslims like our family who choose to celebrate it only because we either enjoy the Christmas spirit/ feel or we want our children to happily live and balance a life as an Australian Turkish Muslim.

As a Turkish Muslim parents its important that our children attend a Turkish school which teaches Islam as part of its scripture curriculum and as an Australian its important that our children understand what multiculturalism is and socially interact and accept non-muslim and non – Turkish people.

My girls understand that we only celebrate Christmas because we choose too and they also understand why Australia doesnt celebrate our eid.

I have never been to an Australian family celebrating Christmas before so im kind of curious what exactly happens on the day. Is it like the movies where kids wake up early to open gifts? Do the whole family get together at the same house each year? Do you visit other family & friends on Christmas day or is a call / card enough ?

Filed Under: Turkish living

Muslim TV commercial

29/10/2011 Leave a Comment

I missed the airing of Mypeace Muslim TV commercial on the Today show, and finally had the chance to watch the brief commercial online.

I also took the time to read all 72 comments on the Hearld Sun website and quite frankly as a Muslim Australian im disgusted but not surprised about how ignorant some Australians can be.

Anthony of Albury Posted at 6:32 PM October 25, 2011

The problem with islamic propoganda is that the rest of the world already sees what Islam is about in every country it is practised in.

Islam is a religion, the way these countries choose to practise their “propoganda” is a cultural choice – irrelevant from the religion. BTW mate its PROPAGANDA with an ‘a’.

I dont get how some Australians feel the commercial or religion is in their faces, I receive weekly HARASSING door knockers or letterbox leaflets insisting I read their Christian pamphlets.

I drive past the corner hall that has a huge painted sign “Jesus Loves you” and I dont feel the slightest threat. WHY??? Because my Muslim parents & my Muslim self took the time to read a bible, we were intrigued about how similar & different both religions were. Heck my brother even attended a strict Baptist school.

anon of Goulburn Valley Posted at 1:02 PM October 25, 2011

And we can’t celebrate Christmas and Easter in Australian school, kindergartens and work places for fear of being politically incorrect.

The same way we replaced “ba ba black sheep” with colourful sheep? Plus Muslims do not feel threatened by Christmas or their decorations. My parents used to colour eggs with onion peel during Easter, I know a few even myself put up christmas trees and hand out gifts to teachers, & neighbours.

When will the world understand the difference between Muslims & Terrorists? Narrowing it down to Australian Muslims, we live the “Australian” way, we work 50+ hours a week, pay our taxes, look forward to public holidays, some enjoy their alcohol including my hubby, we love new year fireworks, have our sunday BBQ & can not get enough of footy.

Terrorists are extremists, their the ignorant idiots who are a minority of Muslims but unfortunately this group are also the ones who loudly voice their opinions, their actions are unacceptable and because of these d*&*heads Australians refuse to see & accept us Muslims.

We dont associate priest paedophiles with the Christians so why should us Muslims pay the price of extremists?

httpv://youtu.be/cGf4C6VLkIM

Filed Under: Turkish living

Our Eid / Bayram

31/08/2011 Leave a Comment

After a month of fasting its now Bayram (Eid) – time to celebrate. It means the kids skip school, hubby misses work, we all get new clothes, kids receive unlimited lollies/ junk, toys, money, we spend time with family, eat out and eat heaps of baklava til we cant stomach any more.

The day starts off at 6.30am when the men/boys go to prayers at the local mosque and the ladies/girls prepare breakfast. Mum use to wake us up singing /screaming to loud music, it was the only morning we were allowed to jump in the shower at 6.30am and this was huge treat for us.

The men/boys come back at about 8.30, we tease mum to go out and greet her hubby with a sloppy kiss – mum believes its ‘rude & embarrassing’ for them to be passionate next to us…lol.

A Turkish Tradition - kissing elders hands is a sign of respect - image credits

Then its our turn to first kiss mum & dads hand then exchange greetings with one another. This is when the adults give money or toys to the kids.

Even though we’re only a 15 member family, our bond isnt as strong as it should be, therefore Bayram breakfast is the best and only get together we have without any bickering.

The men enjoy their tea while we do the cleaning up and then its time to kick back discuss how Ramadan went while enjoying our first serve of Turkish sweets.

Mum and I made killer Sekerpare – these were perfectly soft and the syrup wasnt as sugary or strong as most sweets – i had 2 of them ….!!!!

At about 2pm we freshen up and hit the road visiting my parents elderly family friends, the local Muslim cemetery , a few older friends then lastly we met up with our close friends at Sizzlers.

At each place we visited we were offered at least 2 different Turkish sweets – hubby has a massive sweet tooth and probably ate at each place. The kids were offered lollies, drinks and money – some gave $2 and closer family friends gave $20 each child.

Bayram is similar to combining Christmas & Halloween – we have the same family get together exchange gifts or food but we also knock on doors we know exchanging greetings and receiving sweets or money.

Police offering sweets to those stuck in Istanbul traffic Image credits

In Turkey Bayram is a 2 – 3 day public holiday, everyone is usually outdoors or on the streets enjoying the fireworks, sharing gifts or sweets and the celebrations go on for all 3 days but unfortunately in Australia its not the same vibe and only lasts that one day then its work and normal busy life.

Also wanted add – Eid & Bayram is the same thing, the Arabic called it Eid while the Turks call it Bayram.

Do you know of any Muslim families celebrating Bayram? Have you have ever tried other sweets besides the baklava?

Filed Under: Ramadan, Turkish living